Formation Efficiency Studies on the PI3 Spherical Tokamak Plasma

Optimizing Marshall gun CHI (coaxial helicity injection) energy efficiency is an important factor in optimizing overall performance of the Magnetized Target Fusion approach being pursued by General Fusion. By maximizing initial temperature, density and thermal confinement time of the self-organized spherical tokamak configuration, we enable fusion-relevant peak conditions via compressional heating of the plasma by a Li liner and maximize overall fusion yield. To find this optimum on the PI3 device we are embarking on a sequence of experiments and upgrades to the pulsed power and diagnostic capabilities. This poster will provide an update on latest results and methods, in the experiment and corresponding simulation studies.